Bin chicken Island

August 2018

Today I had a few hours off, so despite the incoming midwinter storm and wind, I decided to head out to Jells Park for a spot of birding. It's funny how off put we sometimes become as birders with certain weather forecasts, but today proved to me that you can find good birds in all kinds of weather conditions, and sometimes it's just as valid to head out exploring in the wet and windy as it is in the clear and cool.

I arrived at Jells Park, a popular area for locals in the eastern districts of Melbourne. I've been birding here for as a long as I can remember and have spent countless hours circling the enormous lake, wandering the winding trails and even braving 42°+ in the summer of 2014 to twitch a Forest Kingfisher (which unfortunately has never reseen by the reporter or hopeful twitchers).

I parked in the southern carpark (entry off Jells Rd) and took the clockwise route around the lake. There was something that felt very British about the manicured lawns, deciduous trees and large flocks of European Starling (mingling with Welcome Swallow) that were soaring across the fields, probably enhanced with a slight drizzle of winter rain. Call me crazy, but I thought it was quite beautiful in its own way.

Australasian Swamphen

Hoary-headed Grebe

Leaving the starlings, I started my walk around the lake. Often the paths are choked with Australasian Swamphen, who have become rather tame due to the high traffic of dog walkers, bike riders and local families who regularly visit the site. I managed a couple of nice shots with this handsome bird before moving on.

As I mentioned earlier, I've been visiting Jells Park for many years, though I confess it's been at least a year since my last good visit and walk around the site. One of my favourite memories was seeing all the breeding Australasian Darter and Little Pied Cormorant who completely overtake several small islands in the centre of the lake. On a good visit during breeding season, it's not uncommon to see over one hundred Australasian Darter and probably three times that number of Little Pied Cormorant. However today, the islands were overrun by the (in)famous Australian White Ibis, perhaps better and colloquially known as the Bin Chicken. You might be wandering what I'm talking about, but recently our poor friend the Australian White Ibis has been getting a bit of a bad wrap due to a rather hilarious video that went viral seemingly overnight, scoring little millions of views online. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, click on this link and enjoy the crass hilarity >>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO-OpFjHRbE

The Australian White Ibis breeds from August through to November, basically late winter into early Spring. During this period, sexually mature adults white tails transition to a discoloured yellowy/white colour and they expose a bright red patch of skin on the underside of their wings. All the birds I observed today were transitioning into this plumage suggesting that the entire colony were preparing for the breeding season. Birds were seen preparing nests, bickering over the best vantage points and even a few grey chicks covered in down were spotting amongst the sea of white. It was quite a spectacular sight to see, though I was slightly concerned that perhaps this colony had pushed out the once memorable sight of Australasian Darter and Little Pied Cormorant who share the same breeding season. I guess time will tell.

Blue-billed Duck

Pink-eared Duck

It appeared the lake has gone under a bit of change in last year or two. When I grew up, the waters were once covered with Australian Pelican, Black Swan, Pacific Black Duck and Grey Teal, all four species completing missing today. Normally, you'd be concerned with species disappearing, though in this case, there were some new and notable additions including a dozen or so Blue-billed Duck (with some brilliant adult males), a pair of Freckled Duck and approximately twenty Pink-eared Duck. So perhaps the water or something in it has changed making the habitat more suitable for these diving and dabbling ducks rather then the aforementioned species. Ultimately, I drove out of Jells Park a very happy birder!

James Mustafa is a birder, wildlife enthusiast and self-confessed twitcher from Melbourne, Australia. A musician and composer by trade, he has been birding, exploring nature and appreciate wildlife for all his life. Since taking up a real fascination with birds, he has soared with tropicbirds in the Indian Ocean, chased owls in North America, danced with kiwi in New Zealand and twitched everything from gulls to leaf warblers across Australia.